Military Men Should Get In Step, Accept Women

Think T@nk - A Salon for New Ideas

October 02, 1997|By KAREN SCHMIDT; Special to The Courant

I'm delighted to report that no one in Think T@nk Tuesday thought women deserve anything less than equal treatment in the military.

Except for a few reasonable caveats about physical strength, Think T@nkers agreed females should have equal access and treatment in the armed forces of the U.S. of A. There was a small disagreement about whether females old enough to join up should be called women or girls (!), and this disagreement led to a frank and open discussion. (Isn't that what diplomats say when the peace talks turn into shouting matches?) But then we moved on.

And despite the recent wave of military sex scandals, which seem to suggest that putting females and males together was causing nothing but a peck of trouble, no one seemed to think men and women need to be kept apart. Well, Wireman recommended separate planets. ``That'll solve the problem,'' he said. (But can we trust the seriousness of a chatter who lists his location as ``third stone from the sun''?)

``People of the feminine persuasion should be allowed in the military,'' declared Cyberman, a loyal and lively visitor from Waterbury. ``If a woman/girl can do the job . . . let her.''

Absolutely. But that doesn't really address the problems facing the armed forces lately. This time, it took a genuine under-18 girl to hit the nail on the head. ``I think that women should be in the military, but MEN should be sensible and considerate enough to respect them!!'' said Alura, from somewhere in Connecticut.

Right on, Alura (I love it when people agree with me without being asked). The military's recent sexual harassment/abuse/assault scandals, from Tailhook to Aberdeen and beyond, would not have happened if women had been absent. But the real cause is a lack of respect, consideration and good sense.

I won't get into the whole issue of what sexual harassment is, and how it's about power and the unequal power structure between men and women in society, and how that unequal power structure is magnified in the military because a superior's power is deemed to be absolute in that hierarchy, and the majority of the higher-ups are male.

I won't get into how sexual harassment is not just an inability of some people to get along; it isn't just relationship trouble; and isn't something women need to just learn to deal with and get over and stop making a fuss. I won't get into that, because getting into that led to another rather frank and open discussion Tuesday. Let's just say the word hostile came up a couple of times. And though I'm proud to call myself a feminist, I don't much like the term feminazi. Not just because I don't know how to spell it.

Anyway. The point is, women have the right to serve in the armed forces and be treated fairly and equally. The T@nkers agreed about that. We also agreed schools like The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute should allow women equal access.

The testosterone-charged cultures of those places will simply have to change to fit a new reality. It won't happen overnight, but it's inevitable evolution. And perhaps these scandals are a necessary first step in that evolution.

For example, Cyberman suggested that the Tailhook mess did a lot of good by exposing the ``boys' club'' atmosphere of the Navy. ``You don't fix something,'' he said, ``until it's out in the open.''

So maybe this wave of scandals will bring on awareness, and sensitivity, and a military culture that doesn't tolerate abuse. Maybe as women rise in the military ranks, the problems will resolve themselves.

Until then, let's just hope the girls and boys will try to play nice together.